Jinja

For the past week, we have been in Tech Immersion. Which means being paired up with a seasoned volunteer to experience the true life of a Peace Corps volunteer. My Tech Immersion has been in Jinja. We are on our final day! A free day, so time to upload my pictures!

Main Street in Jinja. This town is in the east, right on Lake Victoria, where the Nile River starts. It is hot, dry, crowded,  dirty, and noisy (can you tell I was not impressed?). In this picture, on the right, do you see the mini van with the blue and white checks down the side? That is a Ugandan taxi, called a matatou. It is a bit of a joke here to see how many people you can fit into a matatou. My highest count has been 22, plus two chickens. Mind you, it is a mini van that should seat maybe 15. Squishing in, sitting on other's laps, leaning over top of people, and holding stranger's children are all acceptable behaviors in a matatou. These are not taxies, in the American sense, they are more like buses. They drive a set route and pick people up/ drop people off along the route. They have "stages" similar to our bus stops. Unlike American buses, the matatous have a conductor to set the price, depending on how far along the route you will travel. They see white people, and the price often doubles. One of the important lesson while in Uganda is to learn the correct prices of things, and haggle with the seller when you are given the muzungu (white person) price.

My tech immersion leader was Stephanie, and our group consisted of myself, Tyler, Kelly, Anita, Harmony, and Anna. We each had to prepare and present a topic. Mine was Maternal Nutrition, given to new and expecting mothers at a health clinic. Tyler gave WASH, Kelly gave HIV/AIDS, and Anita gave Tippy Tap, all to a group of children and young adults at an orphanage in the deep village. Harmony gave her presentation on Preventing Malaria to 20 children at a Primary school. And Anna gave a talk on Leadership to 15 young men at a community center.

This is a shot from my presentation. I had to work with a translator, which is very difficult. It is hard enough to connect with your audience, but imagine trying to do it when you do not speak the language! Most educated Ugandans speak English, but I suspect my audiences over the next two years will not be educated. Peace Corps volunteers work mainly with the very poor villagers that survive hand to mouth and only speak their own tribal language.
In this picture, the three with G's on their fronts, are Kelly, Harmony, and Tyler. They were acting as my "food group super heroes". In Uganda, they do not teach the food pyramid. They teach three food groups, Go (carbs), Glow (fruits and veggies), and Grow (protein). Malnutrition is a big problem here because people load up on carbs and eat very little of anything else. Rice, potatoes, maize, and millet are cheap and readily available. They also believe that fruit is for kids and meat is for men. This means I will be giving lots of talks to young women about their personal nutrition. Especially expecting and breastfeeding mothers.

These are pictures from the orphanage in the village. They gave us an awesome musical welcome.

Typical home in the village. Thank goodness, mine is not typical. I'll have pictures of my house soon. I'm told it's still being worked on so I may be in a guest house for a couple of days.

Can you see this boy's shirt? It's Boy Shouts of America! There are a lot of donated American clothes over here... our charity shop rejects I suppose, or church cloths drives.

Here is our Tech Immersion group with a few of the community members where Anna gave her presentation on Leadership. 

Of course, the week was not all work. These next couple of pictures are from the Source of the Nile. This is where Lake Victoria flows into (turns into) the Nile River. We took a boat ride to the mouth of the river and some actually got out of the boat to stand in the head waters. Not me... the water is contaminated and we are told there is a 30% change of contracting schistosomiasis (disease caused by  parasitic worms in the water... caused by open deification... so no, I was not getting in).

Where the water is moving, that is the Source of the Nile! They have tourist shops set up and many boaters will take people out. I'm told that during the dry season you can walk out there. Obviously, this is not the dry season. The water was moving pretty good and the motor on our little boat was struggling.

Of course, in true Repeta fashion, I found a bar overlooking the Nile and enjoyed a few beers as the sun went down.